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Episcopal Church No Longer Christian Because It Supports Gay Rights

Michael Youssef, the head of Leading the Way Ministries and a vocal critic of Islam, today argued that the Episcopal Churchis no longer Christian and “not Jesus’ church” as a result of the church's policies regarding gay-rights. Youssef is a signatory of the Manhattan Declaration, a largely anti-gay and anti-choice screed, which also laments the “decline in respect for religious values” in American society. However, Youssef’s diatribe against the Episcopal Church shows the Manhattan Declaration’s call for “religious liberty” and greater respect for religious values remains secondary to its unbridled anti-gay attacks. Youssef’s attack on the Episcopal Church keeps him in the company of other Religious Right leaders and groups who continuously smear mainline Protestant churches that back civil rights.

When some Christians reasonably recognize the essential insignificance of other Christians' same-sex attractions or the value of lifelong commitments two of them may be willing to make to each other, yet a third group of Christians seem to become unhinged.

For Youssef, were Southern Baptist Churches "not Jesus'" when they supported slavery, then Jim Crow, then segregation?